her most recent novel washington black is the extraordinary story of a young slave who flees captivity. by t.v. adaptation is currently in development. george washington black is a young slave in barbados who becomes an assistant to an eccentric inventor together they escape a sugar plantation and a homemade hot air balloon. ringback ringback their fantastical journey takes them to the canadian arctic london and eventually morocco. what was the inspiration for the story. i did an article about scientists i was really struck by the fact that when i put the word sort of african. or african-american. science of scientists that you know what i came up with mostly about black people the subjects of science within science i was able to. enter a modern traffic like a black man. what would a young black man in the 19th century have done with his freedom these were the ideas that intrigue. but why did she. maker protagonist male i think male histories . are have been unfortunately privileged over female histories and so a lot of what you do you come across it's about men. you know and they're. basically how they. directed the course of events and so

library, and in this book i found in the painting of george washington's crossing the river, the man rowing the boat to the right of george washington is a blacks name was prince whipple. he was a servant of one of george washington's aides, and he is a black guy rowing the boat on the painting. >> heave ho. heave ho. >> we meet all year long to plan this. there are 48 boats. per boat.12 pe it will be about 300 soldiers crossing, a lot less than crossed in 1776. if we had to wait for 2400, it would take all day. it took washington nine hours. but yes, about 300 today, and about 48 boat crews. crews come out and practice. they practice on a local lake. then we come down and practice on the river. the planning goes on all year. there will be a meeting in january just to debrief, and we will start planning for next year. >> i kind of have advanced training because my father, he never owned a motor. when we went out fishing, we rowed in the chesapeake bay. our spot and fish and rode into the bay. i was 10 years old. doing this is just a reflection of my childhood. >> as a reenacter, i have been doing george washington for nine years now. it is a t

george washington invited her to visit on the eve of the revolutionary war. she became a pioneer of blackiterature in america. phyllis wheatley's spirit is the american spirit. it is the enduring spirit of imagination fortified by courage. patriotism infused with dreams of the great country we can be. phyllis wheatley challenged the power structure of the 1770's just a few years before our fledgling nation would challenge the worldwide power structure by taking on a british king in a revolution. but phyllis's story and the story of generations of african-americans in this country did not end in victory. phyllis married badly and died penniless. and even as the hopes for the birth of a new nation continued to rise, it would be another century before the tyranny of slavery was destroyed and yet another century before african-americans began to experience true freedom and justice in our country. and yet, in the face of hatred, injustice, and oppression, black americans throughout our history have never stopped imagining and fighting for a better tomorrow, not just for themselves, but for our

george washington's relative. a series of other major political figures. and -- and basically, what this group was seeking to do the american colonization society, was essentially to take free blacks and return them to africa. that was essentially their mission. and -- and it was the american colonization society that was critical in the founding of liberia, where of course my mother would go 150 years later. and -- and of course in the early 1820s, a few hundred african-americans were sort of sent to -- to liberia. so -- so what the american colonization society hoped was that they could essentially get rid of the negro problem because the negro problem was the free black person. not the black person. but -- but the black person that was free. so it was this sort of coalition between those slave owners, who felt that free blacks posed a threat to enslaved africans. and to sort of reformers who -- who felt that if they slowly, they gradually ended slavery, they could also gradually get rid of those freed blacks from slavery. and -- and so black people got word of this. particularly, the very powerful black community in philadelphia. and they -- they got together at this famed chur

washington, d.c. thought it was a great idea. he didn't think it was a great idea. the only person who fought against giving unlimited powers on the war on terror to george w. bush was a black congressman from california named barbara lee who said you know what, this isn't right, and she had to get police protection, and everybody was like you don't know what you're talking about, who are you, she was right. the people who i found who are the best on the environment, live in communities where they're fighting for the lives of their constituents and they know climate, but if you think about the places in iowa where you can't drink the water, they know for sure you have to be able to drink the water so as part of it, we are going to make sure we do environmentalus 'tis. so when it comes to ed kagsz, i want the people who are coming at this from a grass roots independent viewpoint and bringing something new. and it's going to be, i really believe, that's when we've got the best answers. and i'll tell you something, so i obviously love my mom, if you can't, i guess everybody loves their mom but i love my mom, she voted for shirley chisholm and everybody was like marty, aren't y